Even If He’s Old, My Dog ​​can Still Learn New Things

One of the best known phrases in the world is that you can’t teach an old dog new tricks. However, an in-depth study has shown that this is not necessarily true.

It’s hard to believe? Here we are going to present a story that has been a real surprise for everyone.

An innovative experience

The prestigious Vienna University of Veterinary Medicine carried out an extraordinary experiment that proved that age is not an obstacle for your little four-legged friend to learn different kinds of tricks or instructions that you want to give.

To this end, they had the participation of 95 Border Collie specimens, from puppies with only five months old to the oldest with thirteen years old. Tests were carried out with them which consisted of learning some tricks through the use of a touch screen, where they should use their muzzle to determine to what degree they were understanding what the instructor indicated.

The old dog is more adamant in his way of thinking

The first test consisted of having them choose correctly, on several occasions, an image between two available on a touch screen, where on one of them they were rewarded with cookies while on the other not.

These positive and negative images were shown in different positions and combinations to prove the dogs’ memory and recognition ability.

According to scientist Friederike Range, the first result showed that older dogs needed to rehearse and practice more than young ones to be able to correctly solve the task assigned to them.

On the other hand, teacher Lisa Wallis revealed that it has also been shown that the older dog is more adamant in his way of thinking than the younger one. Like people, dogs also maintain the habits and ways they have learned throughout their lives.

Inferential reasoning

The second test consisted of showing them again two images where they should choose only one, with the difference that in this situation one corresponding to the previous test would be included among them.

The purpose of this second experiment was to determine whether the Bordier Collies could remember whether the known image was negative or positive, and then select the one for which they were awarded or select the new one if the known one was the wrong one.

Older Dogs Can Still Learn

After running the tests and studying the results, the scientists decided to allow six months to get the dogs back in and repeat the tests with the touch screen, using the same images with the intention of being able to determine long-term memory abilities.

The justification is that, according to different veterinary specialists, the most important element to determine a dog’s intelligence, its ability to learn new orders and new tricks, is reduced to its memorizing capacity, even after a certain amount of time has passed.

After performing the experiment again, the results did not show any kind of difference regarding the different ages, as all the dogs were able to remember the positive images without any kind of confusion.

It is important to note that although these researches were carried out with Border Collie dogs, Professor Wallis stated that not only are they able to learn new things at an advanced age, but also other dogs that are also characterized by being intelligent. and obedient.

In short, no matter how old your dog is, you can still teach him many things.